Crew members of an aircraft conduct airline operational communications (AOC), Air Traffic Control (ATC) communications, and Flight Management System (FMS) communications via datalink through displays in the cockpit of the aircraft. Current displays are dynamic and provide prompt questions for the crew to enter information. AOC includes: the collection of aircraft information and status; entry of information by the crew; and communication of the information to airline operations maintenance, and other airline services. In order to improve efficiency, aircraft are equipped with multiple displays so more than one member of the crew may enter information or perform AOC, ATC, or FMS communications at the same time. The most common operation is for different crew members to work on different pages that are unrelated. However, when the crew does not discuss the pages that are currently being worked on, some problems can arise. For example, allowing multiple members of the crew to access or edit pages at the same time causes a crew member to see live editing of the document that is not performed by that particular crew member. Also, inconsistent information may be entered in the page such that the crew members could interfere with each other's work. These problems cause confusion and safety issues for the crew. Further, the problems can reduce the efficiency of the crew.
Placing a restriction on all pages so only one crew member may access a page at a time is not adequate for optimal operation by the crew. For example, certain pages include operations that involve requesting information (e.g., weather data) or communicating through text messages. These pages may be accessed simultaneously by the crew without complication, so a rigid locking mechanism that prevents simultaneous use of these pages is undesirable.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for improved systems and methods for managing multiple independent displays for a vehicle.